There is no doubt in my mind that after the heartbreak of the last 10 days, the Terps could absolutely fall apart tonight. But unless NC State really takes it to the Terps on the boards; I just don’t see it. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t make picks with this team.

It was a good win; almost exactly what I expected. Now comes the showdown. We already know the Ravens are a playoff contender; but with a win Sunday, they can become a Super Bowl contender. They’ve had these chances before this season; and haven’t been quite so successful.

-I am a little concerned that Jimmy may have lost his players that night when Loyola played Davidson. By saying that you accomplished more in holding Stephon Curry scoreless than you would have in winning; you really risk losing your players.

-Congratulations to SunTrust Athlete of the Morning Tavon Austin; who scored 2 TD’s and the game winning two point conversion with 2 seconds left to lift Dunbar to their 3rd straight 1A Championship in a 20-19 win over Fort Hill.

I’m guessing that Peter Angelos and Andy MacPhail are probably two of the biggest Ravens fans in town these days. Although it’s been speculated that the two clubs have enjoyed a somewhat frosty relationship in the past, the O’s have been doing more to reach out to their next-door neighbors in the past few seasons. But moreover, as it pertains to this particular football season, and coincidentally baseball free agency season too, the more attention that the Ravens can draw away from the O’s in the headlines and the local consciousness, the better for the Orioles.

Although their 2008 season went off much as expected, there were enough bright spots on the Orioles this season to make the fans hopeful for the future. The budding fruits of the Eric Bedard deal, the growing legend that is Matt Wieters, and the resurgent offense of this year’s club have done enough to excite the fans about the future, and to make this feel like a critical off season in Baltimore. Even before all of the above came to light, Orioles fans had already been looking to this off-season as a big one. The inevitable off-season when the O’s would have their chance to make a run at bringing homegrown superstar Mark Teixeira into the employment of the team that he cheered for as a kid.

So with free agency in it’s early stages and Teixeira clearly positioned as the prize of the free agent market, the O’s are absolutely at a public relations crossroads. Installing new scoreboards, restoring Baltimore to the road jerseys and broadcasting more games in HD are all steps in the right direction, but all are low risk options. They certainly improve the product of Oriole baseball, but they do nothing for the on field product.

Now it’s time to navigate the dangerous and costly waters of free agency and hot stove baseball. Here the stakes are substantially higher, and the opportunities for failure, even potential disaster are much greater when big money contracts are on the line.

On the surface, Teixeira looks like a “can’t miss” proposition. But you certainly don’t need me to list the big time, “can’t miss” free agents that haven’t lived up to expectations. A list that might be tougher to make however would be a list of the big money free agents who went on to lead their teams to championships. If you consider that in recent years, free agents have been mostly “pilers on”, it makes the prospect of signing them that much scarier. When you consider all of the big time free agents who have jumped on to playoff caliber teams just recently, yet never got those teams to a world championship, it’s a wonder teams continue to try to build this way.

Although recent history shows that you can, and probably should look to contend by building through the draft and developing your own young talent, the prospect of signing a player the caliber of Mark Teixeira is often too much to resist.Especially when despite all of the small market success stories, and low budget contenders in MLB, the free spending Yankees and Red Sox have run roughshod over the AL East for a decade until Tampa found some magic this season. And although those two clubs have come up short more often than not overall in the last decade, they’ve certainly been a major roadblock to the playoffs for the rest of the division.

The other big difference between the Yankees, Red Sox and a select few others, and the vast majority of Major League Baseball is that a few bad contracts, even really big ones, won’t hamstring their payroll for years to come like it would for most clubs. Trying to spend freely like the big boys has thrown many franchises into spirals that have taken years to recover from.

Signing Teixeira could be great for PR, but little else in my opinion. The O’s were not lacking in offense last season, and although Teixeira would certainly be an upgrade to the lineup, I doubt that he’d have as much impact on the win column as a solid defensive shortstop and a few legitimate starting pitchers. The O’s it seems, have a number of pressing needs, and while first base is one of them, throwing $20 million + to Teixeira despite all of the other obvious needs of this team would be a huge oversight on the part of the front office.

If the O’s want to look at Teixeira, they should look at the difference between what the Braves gave up to get him, with a season and a half remaining on his contract, and what they got in return for him with just a half season remaining before free agency. Every day that Brian Roberts remains on this team, without a long-term deal, or even the prospect of one it would seem, the less valuable Roberts becomes to the O’s, or in a potential trade. If the front office wants to make a big signing this week, it ought to be Brian Roberts, to a long-term deal.

If Roberts needs to see more from this team before he feels comfortable signing, then it’s time to ship him out. If he hasn’t gotten that good vibe by now, it’s unlikely he’ll feel it before his own free agency is here. While they’re at it, they should be shopping Aubrey Huff too, his value will likely never be higher than it is right now. With all of the closers on the free agent market, there probably won’t be much offered for Sherrill, so I’d hold on to him for now.

Unless they get some pitching, 9 Teixeira’s won’t be enough to get this team over the hump, and if Teixeira sees it that way too, he’s likely to spurn the O’s offer anyway. As I said, big time free agents tend to be “pilers on”. That’s another slippery slope that the O’s will have to climb. If they put their best foot forward and Teixeira tells them “thanks but no thanks”, it’s be a crushing blow to the team and their fans.After all, if they couldn’t convince him to come here, why would anyone else want to?

Actually, that’s probably the million-dollar question. Why would you want to come to Baltimore now? The upstart Rays are poised for an extended run of contention, the Red Sox are seemingly as strong as ever, with a good young core and money to spend too, and we all know how the Yanks are poised to break the bank. The O’s were looking at contending 2 to 3 years from now, and should probably stay that course. If for no other reason, the division looks to be power packed for the immediate future.

This is probably not the time to change directions and start bagging free agents, and I suspect the front office feels the same. As long as the Ravens keep winning, they’ll keep the fans reasonably distracted until MacPhail can do something with Roberts. Even if the Ravens went into freefall at this point, the O’s interests would be served, as we’d still be distracted by the meltdown. Or should I say distracted from the meltdown? The O’s have been one for quite some time now.

If the O’s do anything this off-season in free agency, I hope it’s to drive up the prices for other teams on big time contracts. They might as well bid it up, no one wants to come here anyway, and so no one will likely call their bluff. Plus, as we all know they’re spending confederate money.

1. These guys who can’t run the bases crack-me-friggin’-up. How many games have the O’s tossed away this year because they look like little leaguers on the basepaths? As Gene Hackman said over and over at the end of The Birdcage — “I don’t understand”…

2. Jason Taylor to the Redskins makes complete sense to me. He should fit right in there. He’s never won anything in his career. But he looks good.

3. Maybe because it was Padraig Harrington. Or maybe because it was the British Open. Or maybe because it wasn’t Tiger who did it. Whatever the reason, I don’t think Harrington is getting the respect he deserves for his play. “Paddy’s” +3 total at Royal Birkdale in 2008 should go down as one of the greatest four-day performances in a major championship in modern golf history.

4. My Cy Young pick at the beginning of the year – Justin Verlander – is looking a lot like Cy Young these days. In his last 12 starts, JV has given up 24 earned runs. Daniel Cabera gave up that many on Saturday night.

5. Is it me or is there less coverage and/or exposure for NASCAR these days? I don’t know…it seems like NASCAR was everywhere a few years back and now I don’t see or hear as much about it.

6. The first big story of the John Harbaugh era is how he’ll deal with the “heat alert” that is likely to be in place during the early part of this week. Will Harbaugh make the players “sweat it out” or will he cut practices short with the heat index nearing 100 degrees?

7. The Orioles have a great promotion going on this week to celebrate the 1983 World Series team. Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to disclose the details of the promotion, as I continue to follow the pre-season edict set forth by Greg Bader (O’s Communications Director) who said to me, “in fact, we’d prefer that WNST not even mention the Orioles anymore…” – Side note: I wonder how that would have gone over in 1984 if I would have called Vince Bagli, Bob Maisel or John Buren and instructed them to “not talkabout the Blast anymore…”?

8. John from Highlandtown called the show today and talked about “Madden ’08”. I’ve never played a Madden video game. True story. The last great video game I played was Asteroids.

9. Joe Flacco is about to find out how seriously Baltimoreans take their football. Wait until he misses a wide-open Mark Clayton in Tuesday’s first practice session in Westminster. Someone will yell out, “Come on Flacco, you bum, you have to make that throw!”

10. Don’t look now, but Mike Mussina has 12 wins (with roughly 14 starts remaining) on the year. Ken Davidoff of Newsday was on the show last Friday and said Mussina is leaning towards returning next year based on his success in ’08. I’ll say it again: If Mussina winds up in the 280-win range (he’s at 262), you’d have to give him serious Hall of Fame consideration.

11. Who MIGHT be this year’s New York Giants of ’07? I had Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports on the show this morning and he says it could be the Tennessee Titans. I think it might be the New Orleans Saints.

12. I played Bulle Rock a couple of weeks ago (it’s in GREAT shape, by the way) and I’m telling you, the 9th and 18th holes are among the toughest holes in all of Maryland (from the back tees). Come to think of it, #11’s no walk in the park either. Neither is #5. Neither is #13. No course in Maryland has five tougher holes.

13. OK, so maybe I was wrong about C.C. Sabathia going to Milwaukee and not having an impact. The dude’s 3-0 with two complete games so far. Last year I signed up for that “pee your pants if the Brewers make the playoffs” promotion, but my pants stayed dry when Milwaukee crumbled down the stretch. I’d like to see them in the playoffs this year. They’d be my favorite team in the post-season if they make it (and I didn’t sign up to pee my pants this time around).

14. Why don’t the A’s just trade away their whole team and use their AAA roster to finish the season? I’ve never seen a team compile a roster full of good young players – mostly pitchers – and then trade them all away. Except for Oakland, that is.

15. I’m ESPY-ed out.

16. Anyone notice that Erik Bedard is now out until August? Odds are he’s done for the year (if you know anything about Bedard, that is). Boy, what an imposter that cat turned out to be, huh?

17. Ray Lewis vs. Jim Palmer is going to be one helluva 3rd round match-up in our Toyota Live Web King of Baltimore Sports Tournament. Of course, because I think Palmer SHOULD win the whole thing, I’ll be voting for #22, not #52.

18. Anthony Kim sniffed around at The British Open and will be a threat at the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills next month. Trust me, that kid’s going to be a rock star on the PGA Tour.

There have been some very long and hard hit homeruns here so far. The homeruns that Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi hit just landed. Giambi hit his second ball of his career onto Eutaw Street. Melvin Mora tried to hit Latroy Hawkins in the Yankees bullpen with his homerun in the 5th inning. In a related note, Mora said it was not intentional.

Grevis Vasquez is here sitting in front of the press box and was jumping up and down like a wild person when Bobby Abreu launched his homerun out of Camden Yards.

Although there has been a combined six homeruns hit here so far tonight, that is still a long way from the record of 11 from July 1,1994 versus the California Angels. The Angels hit five that night while the Orioles hit six; here is the box score from that night.

The record for most homeruns by an opponent in one game is six which where hit by the Texas Rangers on August 22, 2007.

Jason Giambi’s homerun went on to Eutaw Street for the 41st in Camden Yards history. It was the second one he has hit out there. His other one was on Sep.29, 2005, off of Erik Bedard. Can you guess who had the first one into Eutaw Street and who it was off of?

Back with more later, I think there might be a chance that home run record could be in jeopardy.

Adam Jones was much of the talk during Dave Trembley’s pregame speech. Here are some of the highlights:

-He is not worried about Adam and how he is handling his struggles. Dave says Adam handles the good and the bad all the same.

-Adam does not think he has done anything to deserve all the hype that has been created around him. He is aware that he was made to be the center piece of the Bedard trade. The Orioles are having a T-shirt night for him tomorrow night here at the yard

-Trembley said that he is not worried about how Adam is handling his struggles right now at the plate. Trembley said he handles everything the same

-Adam was here early today to take batting practice with Terry Crowley

-When you look at how Adam has started out here this season, it is pretty interesting to compare that to how Nick Markakis started his first eleven games in the majors.

Markakis (11g 06 season) 9-35 .257 avg 2hr 3rbi

Jones(11g 08 season) 8-38 .211 avg 0hr 2 rbi

Here are some other notes from pregame:

-O’s say that would be tremendous to get 5 innings out of Albers tonight

-The issues the team has had on the road are not anyone person’s fault

-Trembley feels like what the O’s are doing to teams early this year are now what teams are doing to them

-Did not want to change lineup right now because team will act to how you react

-Said one of the questions right now is “are pitchers getting us out right now or are we getting our self out?”

-Sherrill and Beird have used the least amount of pitches to record three outs

Dave Trembley said that the rotation will go Trachsel(Fri), Loewen(Sat),Guthrie(Sun),and Cabrera(Mon). Brian Burres will stay in the bullpen the next couple of nights and likely start the first game of the Texas series on Tuesday.

Trembley said that all the pitchers and position players stayed even after the game was rained out yesterday to get their work in.

Trembley still feels that Bedard is one of the best pitchers in baseball and that he is grateful to him for what he did while he was here

Today will be the first time that Perlozzo and Trembley will be able to speak face to face since the coaching change

Sam Perlozzo spoke with the media before the game and you can listen to the entire session under the Toyotaliveweb audio vault

Besides Erik Bedard and Sam Perlozzo, former bench coach Lee Elia makes his return to Baltimore as the on field consultant for the Mariners

Jarrod Washburn is 3-0 versus the Orioles in his career as a starter. He did lose a game in a relief appearance back in 1998

So after watching Fanfest today, then watching the Cubs and Mariners play, and getting ready to watch the Orioles and Nationals play down in DC, it has been a good baseball day. I am excited for opening day. I will be spending some time with the Orioles tomorrow talking to players and coaches, and then get ready for the opener against the Rays.

It will be interesting to see who is on the team tomorrow. There is some debate as to whether Jay Gibbons or Scott Moore will be with the team. I am going to go out on a limb and say Moore, I think he is more versatile and more of a fit for this team going forward. The O’s honestly just need to say that the contract with Jay was a mistake and that he does not fit into the plan of this organization moving forward.

Speaking of baseball, Comcast is offering the MLB package free for the first week of the season so you can watch as many games as you like. I get the MLB package every year, one because I love baseball and two because I enjoy watching other teams. Whether it is the Cubs when they are not on WGN, or watching a former Orioles with a new team, like Erik Bedard this year or maybe Miguel, whatever the case may be. I will also enjoy watching the Diamondbacks play as I think they have a real shot to make it to the World Series. The MLB package is an absolute most have for any baseball fan. There are many nights when I get home from the ballpark at 11pm or later and catch some west coast baseball. So make sure to check it out all next week and I am telling you that you can not go wrong investing in it.

So here is who I think will be playing in the World Series: Boston vs Chicago. Red Sox are loaded offensively and although they will miss Schilling for a little while, they have enough offense to get over it. Tigers- I think the bullpen will cost them crucial games. They have one of if not the best hitting lineups in all of baseball, but the backend of pitching staff will be an issue.

In the NL I like the Cubs, mainly because I have been a Cubs fan all my life. Mark Grace was my favorite baseball player growing up. I bat left handed and play first base so he was a guy I wanted to be like, I even always had to have #17 because of him. The first three baseball player autographs I ever got were Mark Grace, Jerome Walton, and Lee Smith. Actually I think Lee Smith is a big part of the reason I was a Cubs fan, because he was a friend of my Uncle’s so I got to meet him and started liking the Cubs. So I always want them to make the World Series. My alternate pick would be the Arizona Diamondbacks who are a young team with a lot of talent.

Of course knowing my luck it will be the Pirates and Royals playing in the World Series…

So the great English major Erik Bedard has struck again in Seattle. I have to admit, some sick side of me enjoys seeing every time someone in the national or Seattle media takes their shots at him. I use to laugh when people would say that we (the Baltimore media), were unfair to Erik and too critical of him.

The guy is very good pitcher, I will not use the word great as it relates to him just yet. Now he has the spotlight on him, and if he thought he was “unfairly” criticized in Baltimore, can’t wait to see what will happen every time he pitches for Seattle. A mutual media friend who covers the Mariners has told me that Bedard has quickly become disliked among the media and rubbed some Mariners people the wrong way….and they are not even out of spring training yet.

Good luck Erik, I will be waiting to see your great responses to every question. Something makes me think he will wish he had the Baltimore media to deal with again someday.

- Coming up this afternoon on the Rob Long Show, John Rallo from Ground Control will join Rob and have some updates as his battle to get MMA legalized in Maryland continues. Also joining them will be one of the legends of UFC as Dan “The Beast” Severn will be calling into the show today also. As well as possibly another surprise guest from the UFC.